Labor Day Reading

Today I'm spending much of my Labor Day reading The Trellis And The Vine. It is a pretty popular book written by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. It is popular among pastors today and comes highly recommended, so my aim is to finish the book sometime this evening.

It's been both a challenge as well as an encouragement to read thus far.

The challenge comes b/c the aim is basically a very simple approach to ministry through speaking, teaching, and praying the Word of Christ into people (to non-Christians & Christians). The challenge is that there's nothing fancy about this approach to ministry. Another challenge is that it takes time to see the fruit from this kind of ministry. I'm not very patient, so it is a challenge for me to wait on God to bear fruit and set apart others to Himself.

Encouragement comes in reading this book b/c God has pretty much allowed me to be ministered to like this. As I was growing up spiritually, I was discipled/mentored in the faith for a couple of years by an older brother in Christ. He imparted his life to me and demonstrated both discipline and godliness in His walk for Jesus. He gave me something godly to imitate as I watched him live.

The fruit of his ministry in my life is being lived out in New Life Church. We too have placed a high premium on ministering in this way. We value this 'one anothering' for the Christian life. By God's grace we preach the Word of Christ to one another, we speak the Word of Christ to one another, and we pray the Word of Christ for one another. Our aim is to do ministry like this in the fullness of His Spirit and with much conviction.

There are a plethora of ministry truths, quotes, and strategies in this book, but Marshall and Payne have a pretty good statement on what discipleship is all about in Chapter 7 that really resonated with where I am in life right now...

"Christian discipleship is about sound doctrine and a godly life, and so to train or equip someone to minister to others means training and equipping them with godliness and right thinking, not just with a set of skills--because that in turn is how they will need to minister to others."

Well it's not fancy, but it is biblical. To impart, demonstrate, and reproduce ourselves into others with the gospel, the Word of Christ, is the biblical way. So far a really good word on what us pastors are to be doing in ministry today.

We're praying for God to bear fruit from the Word of Christ and for the Word of Christ to increase!

A Modern Day Parable

"Two brothers were walking on their father's extensive, wooded acreage when they came upon a young tree heavy with fruit. Both enjoyed as much of the delicious fruit as they wanted. When they started back, one man gathered all the remaining fruit and took it home with him. His brother, however, took the tree itself and planted it on his own property. The tree flourished and regularly produced a bountiful crop so that the second brother often had fruit when the first had none.

The Bible is like the fruit-bearing tree in this story. Merely hearing the Word of God is to be like the first brother. You may gather much fruit from the encounter and even bring home enough to feed on for a few days, but in the long run it doesn't compare with having your own tree. Through the Disciplines of reading and studying, we make the tree our own and enjoy its fruit. Among the Spiritual Disciplines we also find the tools of memorization, meditation, and application, which bountifully increase our harvest of fruit from the tree."

~ Donald Whitney -- Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life (p.41)

Introducing Tom Owen To The Blog World

I would like to introduce you to my brother in Christ Tom Owen.

He is a sweet brother in the Lord and one of my favorite ministry champions for Jesus. Tom, his wife Stephanie, and their two children have been a part of our church for almost a year. They have been a means of God's grace to my life as well as my wife's life.

I have been blessed to minister with Tom each Sunday as he leads us in song at New Life Church. God has gifted Tom with a mind for sound doctrine and a heart that has been captivated by the love of Christ. He is a talented musician and definitely displays that talent for the glory of Jesus Christ...unashamedly. After spending a year in the pastoral ministry there is no one whom God has used more to encourage me than Tom.

Along with leading music at NLC, Tom's desire is to create a ministry to help disciple and train other music leaders to lead worship in a holistic way. For Tom it's not just about a song or an instrument it's about the whole person living for the Supremacy of Christ and serving the body of Christ from a life that is in pursuit of holiness and sanctification. Doctrine is also a staple in Tom's approach in choosing songs that help to facilitate the soul to meet with God in corporate worship. So in this effort he has started a blog that he hopes will be used to encourage other music leaders as they lead in corporate worship from an overflow from their personal worship.

If you know someone that would be blessed to be taught, trained, and discipled in leading music in the local church please contact Tom he will be glad to discuss his ministry with them.

I know you will be blessed to read his posts on his blog. You can visit his blog, The Church And Its Music, by clicking here.

I love you brother!

God bless your ministry!